2008 September archive at Zeal For Truth

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Archive for September, 2008

Cocktail of Crises II

Published by Colin September 30, 2008 in Essays, Politics and Current Events. 25 Comments

Last time, we covered how there is a definite compounding of crises possible with our crumbling economy and insistence on deploying massive amounts of offensive military mechanisms in various parts of the world. Let’s discuss a few additional factors that might augment this potential possibility.

Civil Liberties
The loss of civil liberties, while traditionally a concern of the hard-right (see Reagan’s 1964 RNC speech) has now become associated with left-leaning groups such as the ACLU and left-wing politicians like Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader. While these people are definitely statists, they are alarmed at the rate in which personal freedoms such as privacy and speech are being eroded - especially in the name of security and saftey.

But conservatives have held on to a few pieces of the civil liberties “pie” - namely, religious liberty and some speech concerns (such as Public University’s creation and interpretation of speech codes).

However, no one seems to realize the fact that civil liberties are not a left/right issue, but an authoritarian/libertarian one. This has led to gradual “victories” by left advocates of freedom limitations on right-wing associated liberty, and vica versa. Now we have conservatives saying that it’s no problem if the government taps your phones, searches your house and interrogates you – if you are proven innocent, the benevolent and kind authorities will not harm you. We have left-wingers saying that they believe in free speech, except the kind that might possibly offend some ethnic, gender or other identity group.

The sum of all of this – the aggregate curtailing of personal freedom – would definitely cause a people to begin active resistance of, say, a bankrupt government being more aggressive in revenue collection (if the economy goes bust) and crime prevention (as terrorists and other enemies begin attacking a poorly defended homeland). With a loss of civil liberties, the government begins to see everyone as some shade of an enemy – as some level of threat against its order. Moreover, as non-criminal activities are criminalized (take drug-use and gun ownership for self-defence) the government begins using it’s depleted resources to lock up otherwise law-abiding people instead of going after legitimate criminals. In other words – increasing the capability and responsibilities of government beyond real crime fighting will lead to more and more real crime. It is basic opportunity cost.

Immigrant Labour
When things go awry in any situation, most people look to blame others first rather than take responsibility. In democratic/collectivist societies, this tends to manifest itself in racism and demonization. This is already happening with regards to Mexican immigrants. People who have done nothing other than seek the best market opportunity for work (even if breaking bad laws) are viewed as leeches and parasites on “American jobs.” Even those who haven’t broken these laws are viewed with suspicion, solely because of the language they speak, the colour of their skin or their culture.

So far, these immigrants and those who empathise with them, have not began to fight back. They have mostly ignored the hostility, and kept working. But how long will the attacks on these people be tolerated?

Also, freedoms are being curtailed because of the immigration “problem” - such as the right of an employer to hire whomever he wants and to offer whatever wage he wants. Many conservatives are supporting increasing the scrutiny of the market because of racism. If it were non-immigrant white people looking for work, they would be heralded as following the American dream – but the American dream is evidentially, not for Mexican immigrants.

A failing economy and increasing unemployment, would only exacerbate this problem. Imagine already high unemployment from an economic collapse, and then thousands of unemployed military personnel returning from a military gone broke – but a lot of low-wage jobs being held by one ethnic group who many people believe has not obeyed the rules. This scenario is Weimar Germany all over again.

Thinking About The Economy

Published by Bryan September 29, 2008 in Religion, Current Events, Philosophy and Theology. 3 Comments

There is one bit of advice given to use by the ancient heathen Greeks, and the the Jews in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic system has completely disobeyed. All these people told us not to lend money at interest; and lending money at interest - what we call investment- is the basis of our whole system.

Now it may not absolutely follow that we are wrong. Some people say that when Moses and Aristotle and the Christians agreed in forbidding interest (or ‘usury’ as they called it), they could not foresee the joint stock company, and were only thinking of the private money lender, and that, therefore, we need not bother about that they said. That is a question I cannot decide on. I am not an economist and I simply do not know whether the investment system is responsible for the state we are in or not. This is where we want the Christian economist. But I should not have been honest if I had not told you that three great civilizations had agreed (or so it seems at first sight) in condemning the very thing on which we have based out whole life.

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

By providence I was re-reading some of Mere Christianity last week, and this section is a good place to start a discussion on Christians and the current economic crisis. Christian responses to what has happened are just beginning to appear. The most notable being The Archbishop of Canterbury . Although the ABC throwing Marx into the mix is bound to stir up some controversy, it is encouraging to see discussion on the issue that goes to actual discussion of how the economy should be set up.

I firmly believe that any response Christians give to a crisis must have both an immediate action attached, and a long term consideration of the situation. Often the Church does the first, but leaves the second.

What do I mean by an immediate action in response to a crisis? I think the end of It’s A Wonderful Life is a great example. A need is discovered, people rally around and do what they can to bring the person out of the immediate situation. I’ve heard that this has happened in this case with some churches offering counseling to people hit by this, and I have no doubt that when people loose their jobs the church will be there to offer financial support and friendship (If it does not drop the name church please). Even Starbucks understands the importance of this when right after they were offering free coffee in the morning to people who worked on Wall Street.

What the church likely won’t be as good at, is offering comment on the economic system as a whole. I don’t mind the church waiting a bit to do this, deal with the immediate concern first, but I fear it just won’t come. I’m glad the ABC has begun this, but where are the other voices? The ABC may be an intelligent man, but he is not an economist. Where are the economists to answer Lewis’ questions? Where are those from within the Church that can offer comment on how the economic system works? Where are they advising Christians how far to enter into it? How much of a role is the sin of greed at fault here and how much was poor decision making?

I think this is yet another example of a place where the church could step up to it’s calling and be involved in bringing God’s kingdom to the world, but instead will choose to continue in irrelevant pursuits (I’m building a growing list). I believe I’ve bemoaned the fact that the church has embraced a dichotomy that separates it from every “non-religious” concern enough that I don’t need to get into why it’s happening or why it’s wrong again, but it still saddens me when I see such an opportunity go to waste.

Links: Ron Paul is Right and Always Has Been Right About the Economy

Published by Colin September 26, 2008 in General. 5 Comments

While we all should try and maintain our sense of respect and professionalism during a time of crisis, I need to say it at least once: Ron Paul told you so. So many laughed at him during the debates (literally) when he warned that this would happen.

But it’s not just that Ron Paul, the man, is right - Paul studies libertarian, Austrian free-market economics, the adherents of which have predicted every major bust period in the past century. Economics is not the knowledge of complicated sets of mathematic formulas and equations - but an understanding of logic and human action. It is not about pragmatism, “common sense” or making accounting changes to meet challenges - but a philosophy of reason which explains everything from the growth of government to the disputes of children over toys. Even Jesus dying on the cross can be explained by economic logic. A failure to understand this fundamental truth is going to lead to fear, panic and vast quantities of destruction.

I have been ridiculed here, and in other place because free-market capitalism is really just this funny idea that never works in real life, and should be abandoned in favor of market “stabilization” measures such as price controls, anti-trust regulations, legislated morality or mercantilism. As if capitalism is just a “textbook thing” or an unworkable theory which never leaves the pages. But capitalism is in the textbook in the same way that gravity is - you might not agree with it, or believe it, but it is there and you can be aware that it is all around you as the natural order. Trying to fight it will always be a losing battle because you are fighting a force like gravity - but refusing to acknowledge the omnipresence of the natural economic order will result in a harder fall as ignorant explanations remove one father from it.

I encourage everyone to go back and watch the GOP debates with Ron Paul. Watch how he says that the economy is going to falter, how our credit rating with our debtors (China) is falling, how the Fed will inflate deliberately, how our military will be called home because of a lack of funds, how Fannie and Freddie will fail, how the housing market will fail. But Paul does not merely outline and accurately predict the problems, he knows the solutions - not because he’s a god (although to those deceived by economic ignorance, it may seem like strange magic) but because he’s read a few books on the subject. I would recommend everyone read this one to start.

So, the weekly links on the economy read like Ron Paul’s debate answers in 2007 and speeches from as early as 2003:

The Empire Strikes Out - The US Economic Crisis

China Rumoured to Cease Lending to US

Ron Paul confronts Ben Bernake

Ron Paul’s CNN front page article

The U.S. has slipped markedly in economic freedom since the year 2000:

Economic freedom around the world remains on the rise but it has declined notably in the U.S. since the year 2000, according to an authoritative study released today by the Cato Institute and Canada’s Fraser Institute.

In 2000 the U.S. was the second-freest economy listed in Economic Freedom of the World, an annual report written by James Gwartney from Florida State University and Robert Lawson from Auburn University. This year the U.S. has fallen to 8th place, behind Hong Kong (ranked in first place), Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Chile, and Canada.

More significant than the U.S.’s drop in the rankings is its fall in the freedom ratings: on a scale of 0-10, the U.S. fell from 8.55 in 2000 to 8.04, according to the Economic Freedom of the World Report: 2008 Annual Report. Only five countries have experienced a greater decline over the same time period: Zimbabwe, Argentina, Niger, Venezuela, and Guyana.

Army to begin patrolling American cities in October

In Foreign Lands
Satellite images show ethnic cleanout in Iraq:

Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.

“By the launch of the surge, many of the targets of conflict had either been killed or fled the country, and they turned off the lights when they left,” geography professor John Agnew of the University of California Los Angeles, who led the study, said in a statement.

“Essentially, our interpretation is that violence has declined in Baghdad because of intercommunal violence that reached a climax as the surge was beginning,” said Agnew, who studies ethnic conflict.

“Our findings suggest that the surge has had no observable effect, except insofar as it has helped to provide a seal of approval for a process of ethno-sectarian neighborhood homogenization that is now largely achieved,” Agnew’s team wrote in their report.

The Cold War II?

Overcoming Faith, Part II

Published by Chris A September 25, 2008 in Religion. 19 Comments

Esteeming God’s Word Above Experience
We know that faith can only be present where knowledge is present. In other words, one cannot believe what he does not know. Do you remember the rhetorical questions Paul asks in Romans 10:14?

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

The answers to these questions are obvious, because faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). When one hears, knowledge is revealed to him, creating an opportunity for faith.

Let us examine 1 John 5:4, 5 in light of what we have covered thus far:

4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. 5Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

We know that these verses are the truth, but they do not always seem to agree with the life experiences of believers. Why? They must first know – by internalizing this reality – and then allow their words and actions to correspond with this belief. Knowledge gives way to thought; thoughts govern beliefs. Beliefs govern actions and words, and determine attitudes.

A common mistake many people make is to judge their success as a Christian on the basis how they feel. But the Bible never promised us that we would feel like overcomers; it says that we are – by nature of our Creator and Father – overcomers (1 John 5:4, 5). We are faith children of a faith God and we are to live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). If we act like victims it proves that we don’t believe we are victors, and we never will as long as we adopt this kind of attitude. This is how real faith can be identified apart from its counterfeit counterpart, simple mental agreement; one is active, the other is passive.

Fueled by Meditation
If someone lacks faith, the remedy is knowledge. However, such knowledge is not always cultivated apart from meditation. One cannot expect to obtain the knowledge of God by mere intellectual means – that is, by reading the Bible without carefully weighing its significance. The goal is not to learn more information, but to apprehend knowledge of the Holy. Not only is the quantity of time important, but the quality of time is important. One must free himself of competing distractions in order to give full attention to the word of power by which God upholds all things.

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success” (Joshua 1:8).

The Hebrew word translated meditate here literally means to mutter. Thus real biblical meditation also involves the use of one’s mouth as well as his mind.

The Spirit of Faith
If a survey was taken and Christians were asked what primary characteristic would demonstrate the spirit of faith, I would venture to say that precious few would be able to answer this question. However, the Bible makes the answer quite plain.

“We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13).

The spirit of faith is the attitude of confidence towards God evidenced by the spoken word. In fact, this is how a person initially gains entry into the kingdom of God because one must confess with his mouth and believe in his heart that God raised Christ from the dead to be born again (Romans 10:9, 10).

People often fail to receive from God because of a lack of the expression of their faith. When someone is thoroughly convinced that God cannot lie and he becomes fully persuaded of his promises towards him, he is in a position to see God work miracles on his behalf. But once knowledge comes, the faith produced by this knowledge must be expressed either through word or action. A person can have faith without expressing it, in which case he would be almost as well off if he was completely faithless. He will never tap into the reservoir of grace at his disposal (Romans 5:2). He will both shortchange himself as well as rob God of the glory he would otherwise receive as a result of the blessing.

David and Goliath
The use of words in connection with the release of faith is among the most underemphasized and neglected basic truths consistent throughout the entire Bible. Let us take, for instance, the story of David and Goliath. David’s name is listed among many of great people of faith in Hebrews 11, but how was David’s faith utilized in the slaying of the giant? The entire story is found in 1 Samuel 17, but here is an abbreviated version. Notice what David said.

45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. 46″This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.” 48Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground. 50Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. 51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

I think most Christians have a problem reconciling what David said in verses 46 and 47 with their theology. David literally said exactly what he believed God was going to do. In some people’s minds, this is presumptuous. They think, “How can one presume to know the will of God?” They fail to realize that the closer you get to God by prayer and meditation in his word, the less you have to presume because you know.

How Jesus Taught Faith
If Jesus ministered in churches today, he would be one of the most controversial teachers of our time – just like he was controversial in his own time. He would no doubt be heralded as a heretic. It is no wonder, then, that anyone who dares to teach what Jesus taught about faith is branded a false teacher by many modern-day Pharisees and doctors of the Law.

When it came to faith, Jesus took the spirit of faith to another level. What is perhaps most shocking about his teaching on the matter is the fact that he did not put himself in another faith class; on the contrary, his teachings were accompanied by examples he expected his disciples to follow. One such example and subsequent teaching is found in Matthew 21.

18Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.
19Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
20Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?”
21And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.
22″And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

What was the mechanism of faith demonstrated here? It was Jesus’ spoken words to the fig tree. Yes, folks, Jesus spoke to inanimate objects! Am I saying that those who follow Christ should do the same thing? No, but Jesus did – his words, not mine. He told his disciples that not only could they do just as he did to the fig tree, but they could actually move mountains. Some have surmised that Jesus was speaking strictly in a figurative sense, but that cannot be the case. This was not a parable. Jesus literally spoke to a literal tree and in that same context told his disciples they could speak to a literal mountain. Could mountains represent other obstacles in life in some way? Yes, just as the barren fig tree was an obstacle to Jesus getting some food in his stomach. But that is different from drawing some kind of cryptic meaning from the passage. Mark’s account of this event sheds even more light on the emphasis of the spoken word to release faith. Mark 11:

21Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.”
22And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God.
23 “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.
24″Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

In this account, we see that the potential for this kind of demonstration of faith is extended beyond Jesus’ twelve disciples, because Jesus said, “whoever says to this mountain…” Essentially he said that anyone – not just Jesus or his disciples - who says something, and believes it is going to happen it will happen; and anyone who prays for something should believe that it is received prior to actual physical evidence. This is exactly what David and many other people in the Bible did.

Expectancy
Anyone who lives by faith must of necessity live in expectancy. If the Bible says the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, we should believe and expect him to do so. If the Bible says that God gives wisdom liberally to all men, we should expect to become wise as we seek God for wisdom. If the Bible says that God’s words are health to all our flesh, we should expect to be healthy as we spend time meditating in the word.

What do you suppose David expected to happen after he said to Goliath, “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you”? He expected to both kill and decapitate someone most people would have thought he had no business challenging in the first place.

Far too many pray as a last resort and expect nothing. They may think they are in faith, but they are sadly mistaken. They wait and see if something will happen, instead of expecting that something will happen. These are “que sera, sera” prayers. Many have thought that “if it be thy will” should accompany every prayer they pray. They fail to realize that Jesus only prayed that way in a time of great distress when he was consecrating himself to the will of God by laying down his life for humanity (see Mathew 26). In most instances where this phrase is used, it actually destroys faith. It promotes the idea that God is so far off as to remain mysterious to mankind, such that he may never really be known – even by his own offspring.

In matters where the will of God is completely unknown, certainly it would be appropriate to seek God by supplication; that too, is biblical. But pertaining to matters where God’s will is clearly revealed through his word, it makes no sense to pray as if we don’t know God’s will.

Overcoming Faith, Part I

Published by Chris A September 24, 2008 in Religion. 0 Comments

The Triumphant Faith Life
The Christian, by his very spiritual nature, is a triumphant being patterned after the triumphant Christ. This is the reality of his actual identity as seen through the eyes of God. As a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, his time of sojourning on earth is to be one of absolute mastery over the kingdom of Satan and his schemes. This does not mean we will not have problems, it just means that God will always cause us to prevail despite the problems. Christians were never intended to live as victims, but victors. Since God himself is for us, the idea that any adverse circumstance should hinder us from accomplishing his will for our lives is a completely bankrupt concept.

Although God has determined that his children be more than conquerors through Christ, sadly this is not the experience of many believers. Why is this? They are either ignorant of the thoughts God has towards them as revealed in his holy Word, or they have been taught otherwise, crippling their ability to grasp the knowledge of God that is sufficient to multiply the manifold grace of God to them. Consequently, many of them will live out their lives far below their Christian potential.

Identifying the New Creation
We would all do well to ask what qualities make up the spiritual substance of those who have been born by God’s Spirit. The answer to this question cannot be determined solely Christian experience. The experience of the new creation is only valid to the extent that it agrees with the word that proceeds from the mouth his Creator.

23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does (James 1:23-25).

Here James compares the word of God to a mirror that reflects actual Christian identity. This concept is laid out in John 1:12-16.

12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

True Christian identity, then, has its sole basis in the Christ himself – the incarnate word of God. By beholding the glory manifested forth from Jesus, we are transformed into the same image. Although this identity may be evident in the traditions that express Christian thought, the true characteristics of Christ’s followers can never really be derived from them. The church, being the body of Christ, is an extension of the thoughts, will, and purpose originating from the Head. As he is, so are we in this world. In truth, we are to be ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). We are representatives of a heavenly kingdom that operates by entirely different principles than the world where we presently reside.

The Second Transformation
Certainly the born again experience constitutes the spiritual resurrection of the dead – the translation from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, but it is also a part of a greater metamorphosis and is only the entrance into the faith life. It profits neither the believer nor the kingdom of God for those having been born of the Spirit of God to then nullify many of the benefits of this new life by failing to adopt the new manner of thinking consistent with this spiritual reality. A man thinks, so his he (Proverbs 23:7). He cannot manifest this new nature without thinking in concert with it. This is both a process of deprogramming and reprogramming – ridding our consciousness of impurity while internalizing Truth.

22That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth (Ephesians 4:22-24).

From this passage we can conclude that in order to “put on the new self” one must renew his mind. Here we see the possibility of one being a new creation and yet failing to manifest the godly characteristics he unknowingly possesses.

Next time: Esteeming God’s Word Above Experience

Ron Paul Throws His Weight Behind the Constitution Party

Published by Colin September 23, 2008 in Religion, Politics and Current Events. 20 Comments

In a somewhat surprising move, Ron Paul has chosen to buck his libertarian roots and endorse the Constitution Party’s Chuck Baldwin for President. In a long, very personal and very revealing piece, Paul makes a couple of observations about this decision and his run at the White House. This one stuck out:

Ironically the most difficult group to recruit has been the evangelicals who supported McCain and his pro-war positions. They have been convinced that they are obligated to initiate preventive war in the Middle East for theological reasons. Fortunately, this is a minority of the Christian community, but our doors remain open to all despite this type of challenge. The point is, new devotees to the freedom philosophy are more likely to come from the left than from those conservatives who have been convinced that God has instructed us to militarize the Middle East.

Paul, like many of us Christians who deeply lament the unbiblical support from our brothers and sisters of offensive war, murder, lying and blasphemy - and those who have sold themselves out to John McCain’s “evil” because it is “less evil” than Barack Obama’s “evil” has decided to embrace a genuinely Christian candidate in Chuck Baldwin. From the pastor himself:

For one thing, a sizeable number of believers allowed President George W. Bush to redefine their Christian principles almost out of existence. They willingly looked the other way while Bush betrayed his word (not to mention the Constitution) and catapulted conservative principles into outer darkness. To the point, that they can now even support someone as liberal as John McCain and still call him a “conservative.”

I will say it straight out: any Christian or conservative who supports John McCain has no principles left worth defending!

…How could Christians sacrifice their principles and convictions so easily? How could they be so willing to surrender their loyalties–both to Christ as the organic Sovereign of this land, and to constitutional government, which is, itself, built on Biblical principles?

…

There it is: countless millions of professing Christians will eagerly abandon their commitment to constitutional government and Biblical principles in order to accommodate a Republican Presidential candidate. In the minds of many Christians, the Republican Party is more important than the U.S. Constitution. It is more important than conservative principles or even Biblical injunctions. In essence, the Republican Party has become an IDOL in the hearts and minds of many professing believers.

So, how can we ask God to bless America when God’s children have set up the groves of idolatry in their hearts? How can we expect God to heal our land when Christian pastors, Sunday School teachers, deacons, ushers, and faithful church members place more loyalty and allegiance in a political party than they do in the very Word and principles of God?

As surely as the pagans of the Old Testament worshipped before the gods of Baal and Ashteroth, many Christians worship before the GOP. They are willing to sacrifice their children to the policies and practices of unscrupulous, evil politicians–as long as they have an “R” behind their names.

We have a major problem in the church, let alone the conservative political movement when so many claim they agree with the authority of Christ and the bible and yet, out of ignorance or stubborn human-centered pride, support policies that are so blatantly and radically unbiblical and unchristian. There is probably more hope with the left’s base, who though dead wrong on principle, at least seem to understand the concept of principle. It may be easier to convince them that their motives, while correct, are not carried out through socialism, wealth-redistribution, pluralism and so called religious and cultural “tolerance.”

The Christian “right” has gone full-circle this decade. What started as an effort to align one of the major parties with a God-fearing agenda has turned into a power struggle to align God-fearing people with a major party agenda. Paul sees that the mainstream of political Christianity has been so caught up in what these false prophets, teachers and experts are proclaiming that it is time to “evangelize” the left.

Realistically, Paul’s positions have generally been closer to the Constitution Party that the hard-line of the Libertarian Party. Paul’s emphasis on Rothbardian/Austrian economics and his opposition to the drug war makes him friends with the Libertarians, but his views on immigration, Christianity and abortion align him more with the Old Right and Constitution Party.

With this endorsement Paul has shown his true colours, even though it will not make a lot of sense to those who supported him from the left. Once again, he has chosen to follow his principles over politics, and pick a hard-core Christian “libertarian-esque” candidate who emphasises those principles which Paul finds most important.

Here is Paul and Baldwin talking in 2007 about Christian/conservative issues.

Cocktail of Crises

Published by Colin September 22, 2008 in General, Essays, Politics, Current Events and Philosophy. 4 Comments

I also thought about titling this post; “At least part of the reason I have chosen to leave the US and obtain other citizenship.” I do not want to rush, like many libertarians and apocalyptic Christians to hasty conclusions that the sky is falling. I don’t think we’re even near that in the civilised world. In fact, I would even argue that the whole thing is being exaggerated and perpetuated mostly by the media, politicians and business which seek to profit of people behaving like chickens with their heads cut off and reloading CNN every two minutes, asking for more government handouts/power and looking for sales in guns, oil, water, food, gas, metal, gold, silver and so on to go up.

However, having said that, I suspect that most people are missing the real crisis - the wider crisis. In the determination to focus on something like gas prices or civil liberties in detail, perhaps how these elements combine and mix in the current climate reveals the nature of the “crisis machine” that is being built. In other words, the bail-outs aren’t really a catastrophic problem in and of themselves, but combine them with say, inflation, lost civil liberties and foreign policy - and now you’ve got a little cocktail being mixed that might do some damage.

The essence of this comes from one of my few favourite quotations by one of my favourite men, Henry Hazlitt:

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

So, while various plans drawn up to solve one particular problem might stem the specific leak, these will weaken other-areas in a greater and greater ways. If we continue to pay more than what we are getting on the whole, if we borrow more from ourselves than we gain back in any given solution, then we are gaining momentum on the path to bankruptcy.

I don’t think that any one crisis would really damage the United States, but if crises are continually paid-forward with short term fixes at the expense of the aggregate, we’ll have a huge queue of multi-industrial, multi-dimensional problems bursting the seams of law and order that tie them down.

So I want to look at how some of the following areas have or may, in the future, combine to compound a larger crisis for the US:

Foreign Policy
The Domestic Economy
Immigration
Civil Liberties
Free Speech
Nationalism/Patriotism
Religion

I’m going to do my best now not to try and lose you.

Foreign Policy
Regardless of one’s view on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is clear that we are less liked in the Muslim world today than we were on Sept 10, 2001. Terrorist groups (including non-Islamic ones) have seen their numbers swell. America, regardless of why, has a lot of enemies.

Even if we had the perfect military, intelligence and every move we have made and will make to combat this reality were perfect, the cost would be enormous - probably greater than any military effort that was ever unleashed. To stem everything from active terrorism and resistance in the middle east, to peacekeeping for US interest and allies in numerous other places, to protecting resources and trade partners, to preserving and install US-friendly regimes in places like South America and Eastern Europe would make the kind of scarcity, rationing and planning not seen since the forties.

Again, I am presuming that there is no waste, no bad intelligence, no blow-back and other bugling. Just this effort alone, in one area, might be doable if we had the savings and capital to pay for it.

However, we clearly have no capital and savings. America has been in the red for sometime. What is going to happen when all of these troops, assets and protections are pulled back from the fragile order which they are supporting? Those who have supported a planned, orderly decrease in military intervention for the past few years (heck, even the past decades) have been laughed at in favour of the idea that the current level of empire is a linear, sustainable stronghold. But as Ron Paul said as early as 2003, we will be pulling our empire back - either by planned, orderly and strategic organisation or as a reckless reaction to the bottom line that we no longer can afford it:

Policing the world and nation-building issues are popular campaign targets, yet they are now standard operating procedures. There’s no sign that these programs will be slowed or reversed until either we are stopped by force overseas (which won’t be soon) or we go broke and can no longer afford these grandiose plans for a world empire (which will probably come sooner than later.)

It should now be clear that we are facing this reality. Even those of us who are staunchly anti-war will not deny the fact that there are people out there being held at bay by the military who would otherwise seek to kill Americans. When the military is forced to downsize, we will have left the gates open for these people to come in and sack our country.

The reactionary answer by conservatives (and many democrats) is to rely on the same old argument to beef up the military. But what if there is physically no money to pay for it? We are going to have an increase in terrorism at home and abroad and the accompanying cries by the population for safety in the form of increased government power in exchange for freedom and civil liberties.

Next time: discussion on what the current economic situation reveals, along with the combined problem of immigration and civil liberty erosion.

Links: Socialists Win at Economic Game

Published by Colin September 19, 2008 in Politics. 13 Comments

U.S. Government Nationalizes A.I.G.

U.S. Government Nationalizes Two Biggest Mortgage Lenders

Highway Fund Shortfall May Halt Road Projects

Harper dissolves parliament, calls election for Oct. 14th

Religion
Ray Boltz came out of the closet on Friday.

Sharia law now official in Britain.

When Extremism Becomes Mainstream - Christianity Edition

Published by Colin September 15, 2008 in Essays, Religion and Politics. 3 Comments

Since I wrote my last piece on this subject, I have had the time to think a little more about the nature of cultural and political shifting over time. I’ve realized that the principles I examined apply just as easily to other arenas as well - including religion. When one of our forum members posted a link last week to this study, I could very easily see that another look was needed.

Less than one in five Christians had the following characteristics:

* Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
* Committed churchgoers
* Bible readers
* Accept leadership positions
* Invest in personal faith development through the church
* Feel obligated to share faith; 79% do so.

I would argue that these are the mainstream features in the bible and of the major figures in Christianity. But yet why is it that four in five people calling themselves by the very same name do not share all of these values?

Christianity is considered the mainstream religion in the western world and the US but only 1/5 of the people who identify themselves in the mainstream seem to actually abide by these basic principles. In other words, four fifths of the mainstream have adopted an extreme version of Christianity while still identifying it, describing it and surrounding it in those traditions and terms which define it historically.

This explains part of my last article, where I maintain that “Christianity” is likely much more of a threat to the United States (for example) than radical Islam. This is why: when four fifths of the dominant religion, while still couched as one thing, are openly acting to various degrees in opposition to that thing, we have a massive break from reality on the behalf of most Christians. It is no wonder that many Christians (probably even including the first group) generally support such reckless, irresponsible and reactionary politics and are the greatest threat for ushering in destructive policies and leaders.

Evangelizing “Evangelicals”
But moving away from the politics of it, consider that this means that a good portion of people whom bible-believing Christians will evangelize are people who already consider themselves Christian! No wonder such seeker-friendly methods such as relationship and friendship evangelism or the “four spiritual laws” are complete failures - they use terminology that most people think they already know and abide by (so they believe).

If I say to a member of the other four fifths:

Jesus loves you and died on the cross for your sin

then we might see the dissonance. Whereas I would mean:

Jesus loves you - in that you were deserving of hell because you are a sinful, wicked person who has broken God’s law and deserve god’s wrath and judgement. But Jesus showed his love by enduring your punishment for you so that you could be forgiven from your sins.

But he, believing he already is a Christian, might hear:

God (whoever he is, I guess Jesus is one way to view God) does indeed think I am swell and good. That story about him on the cross reminds me that I am loved and encourages me to live a good, self-sacrificing life.

This is our challenge and the great failure of the Church since it was first birthed.

Like a Man Who sees Himself in the Mirror…
The propensity of men to continually move farther and farther from some point in history, while still proclaiming that they really haven’t moved at all, is astounding. How many times is Spurgeon, Luther, Calvin, Paul or Jesus quoted to give legitimacy to some idea or doctrine that they would have never supported or approved? I am not talking a Simpson’s episode that is done openly in jest, I am talking about an idea within “the Church” that is sold as a legitimate extension of some traditional leader or scriptural doctrine. I would throw in here everything from egalitarianism on the liberal side to hyper-Calvinism on the conservative side.

I suspect this has come about with Christianity in the same way it has come about in politics - through a lack of independent, critical thinking and also blind devotion and trust of leadership. In the same way that George W. Bush or John McCain is eventually just accepted and amalgamated into conservative political ideology so too are men like Joel Osteen or Rick Warren embraced as bible-believing theologians. I am not saying these men aren’t saved, but I am saying that their books and teachings often try to lend the authority of God to extra-biblical or even unbiblical ideas.

Examples: Prophecy, Guidance
But that is really the problem. Take most of the first fifth’s view on prophecy. Many will say that the New Testament “gift” of prophecy is exactly the same as the kind of massive, authoritative pictures that Ezekiel got from God. An otherwise bible-believing Christian has no problem elevating a dream (possibly the product of last night’s fettuccine alfredo) to the same authority as a “thus saith the Lord” from the Old Testament prophets.

We see this same product with mysticism and divination in guidance - X worked out well, it must be God’s will. Or X didn’t work out, plus I had a feeling about it - therefore it must not be God’s will. With so many Christians, even with generally biblical theology, placing the authority of God to personal impressions or circumstances - it is no surprise that objective anchors such as the bible are given a lower and lower place. Nominally, of course, the bible will always take the highest place, but functionally, it will continue to lose influence.

The World is Up in Arms - But Not Really
Some might object to both these articles and say that I am over-exaggerating the problem as we aren’t seeing everything blowing up in Christianity or the society at large. But that is precisely my point - it would be healthy if people were up in arms over the kind of ideals, worldviews, policies and doctrines that are dominating the culture, but aside from the vocal minority, most people are content with the current streams of debate and discourse. So while there is plenty of argument in the Church - it is often more about something trivial like whether homosexuals should legally marry rather than whether perseverance of the saints is a acceptable teaching.

Links: Two-weeks links

Published by Colin September 12, 2008 in General. 35 Comments

Last week, we had so few links, and I was well wrapped up in my new life in the UK, that we did not get a weekly links posting! Hopefully we make up for it a little today.

A lot happened with the Ron Paul movement. Ron Paul’s Rally opposite the RNC went smashingly well. Paul’s speech.

This week, Paul hosted a major press event to show that all four major third party candidates had agreement on four basic points:

Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.

Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.

The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.

The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.

Paul argues that “a majority” of people would agree to these points, but they are all completely ignored in the mainstream discussion of elections in favour of long-media circuses on crap like this.

More Links
Texas to teachers: Bible will be taught

Is Google Turning Into Big Brother?

Votes for Ron Paul not counted at Republican convention.

Ban on Political Endorsements by Pastors Targeted

Scientist Uncovers Miscalculation In Geological Undersea Record. A popular method of measuring historical carbon levels is not accurate as previously thought, due to a lack of correlation between atmospheric carbon isotope levels and carbon isotope levels in sediment records. The article doesn’t make this clear, but this is not the carbon-14 dating method that you’re probably thinking of, which is only good for up to 50,000 years ago. This is the carbon-13/carbon-12 ratio method, which is useful for hundreds of millions of years back. This is not a dating method; it is used as an indicator of historical plant activity on earth.

Zeal For Truth